Hugh Jackman and wife Deborra-Lee Furness rush to Fay Duncan’s side in Melbourne

MOVIE star Hugh Jackman and his actor wife Deborra-Lee Furness have rushed to Melbourne to be by her sick mother’s side.

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MOVIE star Hugh Jackman and his actor wife Deborra-Lee Furness have rushed to Melbourne to be by her sick mother’s side.

The celebrity couple had been spending time in their Sydney bolthole at Bondi — with Jackman enjoying a workout and a swim, and catching up on the news in The Daily Telegraph, yesterday morning — before they flew out with their two children.

Hugh Jackman has breakfast with his family as he catches up on the news reading The Daily Telegraph. Picture: Media-mode.com

Furness’s mother Fay Duncan — who helped set up the Bone Marrow Donor Institute in 1989 and also established the Red Ball to help raise money for the Fight Cancer Foundation — has been unwell for some time.

“It’s a very sensitive time,” a family friend said yesterday.

“It’s well documented Deborra’s mother hasn’t been well for a while and the family want to be there for her.”

Ms Duncan, who relies on a wheelchair, is close to her daughter and Wolverine star husband who has previously described her as “the best mother-in-law”.

Last year she was too unwell to attend the Red Ball and Jackman and his wife stepped in to front the gala raising $100,000 for the cause.

On the night Foxtel boss Brian Walsh paid tribute to Duncan, who was keeping up to date with what was happening on the night through her iPad.

Hugh Jackman chats with Paul de Gelder after a quick dip at Bondi Beach. Picture: Getty

‘She is a real inspiration, generous and kind, driven and dedicated, warm, compassionate, complete,’ he said.

Ms Duncan helped set up the Bone Marrow Donor Institute in 1989 with the aim of starting a register in Australia a year later and today the internationally-linked registry provides access to 10 million potential donors worldwide.

In 2014 she was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women.

Earlier on Wednesday, Jackman was seen enjoying a morning workout on Bondi Beach before stopping to read the Daily Telegraph over coffee in a nearby cafe.

Jackman trained inside the North Bondi surf club. Picture: John Grainger

Jackman smashes out a gym session. Picture: John Grainger

The 47-year-old had trained at the gym at North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club before bumping into former Navy diver Paul de Gelder, the first person to survive a shark attack in the Sydney Harbour for 60 years.

He was later joined by his 60-year-old wife and both were seen consulting their mobile phones before returning to their $5.9 million beachside pad.

As he left the beach he declared a workout and swim was “the best way” to start the day.

“Awesome, always good when it’s finished right?” he said.

Originally published as Hugh Jackman and wife Deborra-Lee Furness rush to Fay Duncan’s side in Melbourne